The Lights Within The Dark Side
by DiminishingDemon
Summary: Surrogates, they are monsters and a subspecies of Hollow. They are seen as the monsters under the bed but are more human than you think.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Thanks to daydreamer234 for not only getting me into the peculiardom but helping me find fanfiction. For this I will always be grateful. Please take a look at her account for well written stories and ships galore.**

We have no choice but to be seen as terrible monsters, low life degenerates who can only be seen as 'it', no longer worthy human pronouns, no longer worthy of a peaceful life. Scaring all of peculiardom into hiding, it rarely occurs to the children that some of us don't want to be seen as that monster under the bed. It rarely occurs to them that we didn't choose this life, that we want to be normal.

However, some of the most advanced form of hollows form a subspecies, surrogates, and they try to live away from the breed and try to make their lives somewhat better than the main monsters, even if it means killing innocent people. After all, life revolves around the survival of the fittest. More advanced than Wights, with pupils and no longer an eerie inhumane feel, preferred over more of a sad, regretful feel, more of a human one. More advanced than Hollows, with the lethal tongues but equally deadly brains. Surrogates are well known, but their species are dwindling, fighting amongst each other, ultimately leading to their self destruction.

"Hey, who's taking next shift?"  
"Me" I looked up, sunken unblinking eyes portraying my inner barren wasteland.  
"OK, when the next one comes through you wait, then you kill, you drag them to the corner and eat."  
"Fine."

I was nervous but it wasn't just the fact that I had to take a life. It was more the fact that that I had to take one and not get caught. We are surrogates, this is who we are and it was either them or us. The next one came in, it was rare. This one was a peculiar, I could tell from the smell. The feeling of nervousness crept up inside of me, if this didn't go right I could die. I hid in the corner, waiting until I did it; I let my tongues loose and killed him. Another life wasted. We are ashamed of whom we are, but we have to survive. We ate, something we never wanted to do but always had to. Thank God for tinted windows. Those and posters covering our walls were why we weren't caught. It was flawed but that was all we had. Our lonely abode was an old abandoned book shop. That, along with cover, was all we could afford. If we got caught, we moved, no time for being sentimental, no time to hang on. Me, Jonathan, Charlie and Frances, the last of our kind.

Today there was something I had to do, someone I had to meet, someone I had to persuade. Today was the day I had to meet my son and persuade him to join us for he was one of us, I had to persuade him before they did. I waited outside his home, hoping that I could talk him even though I left all those years ago. I did it to keep him safe, I did it to save his life.  
He walked out.  
"Hi son, it's been a while.


	2. Family Ties

No one knows I'm peculiar. No one knows I'm a Surrogate either. My dad was a Surrogate and my mum was peculiar. It wasn't what you would call a functional relationship. My dad cut of his tongues and my mum never told my dad. I can hide my tongues because of my peculiar ability, metamorphosis. I can disguise myself as anything I want as long as its of the same mass. For example, I can turn my tongues into muscles of the same mass or turn my arm into a blade that has the same amount of matter as my arm. My ability is growing though, I can start to do the same to objects outside of my body as well.

I don't let these things stop me from leading a normal life though, well, except from having to eat the occasional person. Don't get me wrong, I regret it but it is what I need to do. Other than that though, at first glance I'm a normal sixteen year old. The only thing people find out of the ordinary about me is my past. As soon as I was born my dad ran away. As soon as I was 2 my mum left me with my aunt and ran away as well. I never thought about my past but as soon as I saw him across the road from my house it all came rushing back. I have only seen him in pictures but I was sure it was him.

"Hi son, it's been a while."

I punch him, that was the only thing I could think of doing, I punch him and I don't stop but he just stands there. When I'm done, out of breath, all he does is say,

"I deserve that but please just hear me out."

I don't know why but I stood there waiting for him to speak, waiting to hear what that bastard possibly had to say after 16 years, and he said.

"Listen, these people are after you, if you don't come with us you may die. I'm saying this because I care, I'm saying this because I love you."

"What? You loved me so much that you left the moment I was born."

"Look, I got in with an outcast group of surrogates. They told me to leave with them and if I didn't they'd make it so I didn't have anything to make me stay. So I left, killed them on the way and ran but by then we were away from London, somewhere in the country. That's all I can say right now but you need to run."

"Why should I? Who is..."

BANG. A gunshot. My dad didn't even need to tell me to run but we were both tearing down the road and leaped into his car. I didn't see the bullet or the person but I saw it penetrate the windscreen and miss me by an inch, no time to worry about that though. We got away, or so we thought. At that moment it came, the car came and we crashed into it. We barrelled off the road. I blacked out.

By the time I came to I was in a room, in a bookshop and there were four people there. The woman in the back said,

"Hey, we were worried about you. Luckily your dad was up and running with you in his arms."

"Who are you?"

"We are the last of the Surrogates and I want to welcome you to our group. Welcome to your new life."


	3. Ruins of the Lost World

I took my son to our shop. I didn't care what he would think I just wanted him to be safe, but now I think I've dragged him into something he should never have been apart of. We Surrogates kill whoever walks through our doors; some called us binge eaters, then they died of starvation. My son looked like he was doing fine, I should have left him alone and protected him from them from the shadows like I always did but I couldn't help myself, this was a greater danger. I did the right thing, I'm sure I did, I would talk to him about it later but now he needs some space.

"This wasn't the plan and you know it." Jonathan said

"What else was I meant to do?"

"Maybe you could have taken him to where we were meant to meet." Charlie remarked

"Yeah and lead them there so we can all die, great plan!" I said with sarcasm. This is my son, he isn't leaving, he is in danger. He needs protection.

"Well, we could have just killed them, its not like they'd bring an army." Frances shot.

"Look, this is my son. We were under fire and I wasn't exactly thinking. I know the plan was to integrate him into our group slowly, but if we did then someone else may discover the Ruins of the Lost World"

Abaton contained the Library of Souls. It was destroyed by a group of Peculiars and was sealed. The Library of Souls is where peculiar souls go after death. The Ruins of the Lost World was the place where the first Peculiars were born. It is an infinite loop. To gain control of that loop is to gain control of time itself. That is what we intend to do. However, it is not for any evil purpose, we simply want to do this so we can become human once again. We do not wish to control the outcome that time will dictate, we wish to control the outcome of one event, the creation of Hollows. If we were to do that then we would be normal once more for we were not peculiar, our origins were rather different but that is a story for another day.

"What is the Ruins of the Lost World?"

My son overheard us. So, over much debate and speculation we decided to tell him. Looks like our plan to slowly integrate him into our group has gone wrong.

Once we were done, he sat there, expressionless and then simply said,

"I need to think about this for a moment"

"Sure we aren't forcing you into anything" I said.

He gave me a look of pure loathing, a look that froze me from the inside. His decision was not about whether he wanted to be a part of this, his decision was about whether he could forgive me.


	4. Origins

It is a well known fact that Hollowgast were created through the large impact caused by a failed experiment. Hollowgast are labelled as monsters and are feared throughout Peculiardom. More feared perhaps are the Wights. Once a Hollowgast has eaten enough Peculiars they evolve into a Wight. They now have brains and are now more human. The only way to identify them is through the lack of pupils within their eyes. They are known for being merciless and cold hearted. They no longer need to eat Peculiars. However, some still go on and in order to achieve the final form of evolution. However, they must not only eat Peculiars but normals and Hollows also. But, a normal's soul along with that of a Hollowgast's seem so horrendous that only some are willing to go so far. Once they have eaten enough they evolve once more but the cost of great power is that they fuse with the souls that they have eaten in order to become Surrogates. Surrogates have grown more humane over time for they have seen what this fighting has done to their race. Now, burdened with a need to eat an innocent person along with the opposing intention of becoming human once more the last of the Surrogates are now hiding in a bookshop, their hopes resting on one teenager who does not know what to do and are now awaiting to see what will happen on the next chapter of their adventure.


	5. Internal Conflict

I can't join. He is there. I can't join because my blood boils just being in the same room as him. I can't join because if I do that means forgiving my dad.

But wait. I have always wanted to be normal, there is a chance I may remain peculiar by that's fine, at least I will no longer need to eat humans. I want this, I want to achieve this at any cost and the others seem OK.

He said he had to protect me though. But that still doesn't give him a legitimate excuse, a story like that could easily be made up. No, I can't forgive him, I can't.

But if I leave won't I still be hunted down? They showed me that they need me and my life is in danger, can't they provide me with protection?

It might be good to be with my own kind, I might not have to kill anymore. Could I find peace? Could I lead the life I have always wanted? Could I finally leave the life I have resented?

I need to decide. I know I can't stand my dad but it will only be for a while. But by going away won't I put my life in more danger? But I will have protection. This isn't something I can involve my emotions in. I need to leave this life behind, I need to become as normal as I can. I need to do this.

I went to tell them my decision. They looked at me expectantly. I said,

"I will go"

A look of hope spread across the group and my dad tried to hug me. I stepped back disgust depicted on my countenance.

"Don't you dare come near me."

He said nothing, a look of pitiful resignation on his face. He knew I didn't forgive him, he knew I never would.


End file.
